Today’s demonstration by a group of indigenous people who unfurled a banner during Pope Francis’ mass at the Sainte-Anne de Beaupré church in Quebec, asking him to distance himself from the so-called “doctrine of discovery”, staged the opinion of some representatives of the indigenous peoples who wanted something more concerning the apology of the pontiff.

Representatives of indigenous peoples – First Nations, Métis and Inuit – expressed their satisfaction and emotion when the pope asked them in Maskwacis, Edmonton, “humbly” to forgive them for the responsibilities of the Church in these residential schools created for ” process of assimilation” and in which nearly 150,000 indigenous children suffered all kinds of abuse, thousands of them died of mistreatment and disease.

But many of them agreed that the request for forgiveness was a starting point and not an end point in the process of reconciliation with the Church and that much remained to be done regarding the requests of the original peoples.

However, some groups of these indigenous peoples, scattered across the vast Canadian territory that the pope will not visit, were not satisfied with his apology from the pope and expected something more.

Before mass, a group of natives unfurled a banner asking the pope in French “to abrogate the Doctrine”, in reference to the so-called “Doctrine of Discovery”, embodied in positive law in the 19th century but based on a series of 15th century papal bulls blessing colonization and land appropriation.

Security inside the temple removed the banner with no problem, but the small group of natives hung it outside in front of the thousands of worshipers who gathered to watch Francisco’s mass.

Prior to his arrival in Canada, members of the Canadian Assembly of First Nations (AFN) had called on the pope to revoke the so-called papal bulls used by settlers in the Americas and Africa to justify “in the name of God” the confiscation of land from indigenous peoples.

These were in particular two papal bulls issued in 1455 and 1493 by Popes Nicholas V (“Romanus Pontifex”) and Alexander VI (“Inter Caetera”), which gave the blessing to the appropriation of land by declaring “terra nullius” (no man’s land). ) and which, according to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, “remain valid”.

But the natives’ demands go further.

Grand Chief Garrison Settee of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, in a statement following the pope’s apology, said “it was awesome to hear those words for all the people who needed to hear them” and thinks “it’s were sincere apologies”.

But he added that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had asked the pope to apologize to residential school victims, their families and communities for the Catholic Church’s role in “the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and children’s troubles.” First Nations”. in Catholic boarding schools,

“We didn’t hear about sexual abuse in the apology. It was a little surprising that we didn’t hear about the doctrine of discovery either,” he said.

“Apologizing and acknowledging the damage done is just one of many steps that need to be taken. There is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

Like many other indigenous peoples, they now hope that the Church will “return all objects and documents to the first peoples (some in the Vatican Museums) and open the archives, because they contain answers that will reveal more truths”.

On the other hand, the Minister of Indigenous Relations of the Crown, Mark Miller, assured in an interview for “The Canadian Press” that the “gaps” in the Pope’s apology cannot be ignored.

Although he assured that “it was a moving moment” and “that the natives will decide for themselves what they think”, he expressed concern that Francis “did not mention sexual abuse in his comments” and only mentioned “the evil committed by Christians, but not by the Catholic Church as an institution”.

In an interview with Canada’s CBC, Evelyn Korkmaz, a First Nations survivor of the Fort Albany residential school and founding member of Church Victims Advocates in Canada, said the pope’s words provoked “rediscovered emotions”

“There was no mention in your apology of the release of desperately needed documents across Canada. These documents contain our history…they belong to Canada, they belong to us,” he said.

He added: “I’m glad I lived long enough to witness his apology, but I want more because 50 years is too long to wait for an apology.”